In an attempt to put a face on civilian victims of U.S. drone attacks, a group of Pakistani artists have placed giant posters of children meant to be seen from the air in the country's troubled tribal regions, Agence France-Presse reported.
A photograph, taken from the air with the use of a mini-helicopter drone, has been released under a project titled #NotABugSplat. "Bug splat" is said to be a term used by drone pilots based in the U.S. to refer to how victims look when seen through video cameras.
The portrait features the face of a girl who lost both her parents in one of the controversial strikes in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, according to AFP.
"We tried to replicate as much as we could what a camera from above will see looking down," said one of the artists of the collective, who did not wish to be named individually. "You will see how tiny people are and they look like little bugs, we wanted to highlight the distance between what a human being looks like when they are just a little dot versus a big face."
The artist continued, "One hope is that it will create some empathy and introspection."
Pakistan's tribal districts, which border Afghanistan and are home to Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, have become the biggest target for U.S. drones since 2004.
As the strikes cause unnecessary deaths of hundreds of innocent people, they are strongly opposed in Pakistan. The people view them as a violation to their sovereignty.
At least 2,296 people and 416 civilians have been killed during these violent strikes, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
At least 168 of the victims were children, the BIJ said.
However, proponents of drones claim that high profile targets, including former Pakistani Taliban leaders Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud, have been killed through these strikes.
